The Railway Board is learnt to have said that within about 24 hours, all its employees and their family members should get the app installed. (File Photo/Representational)
With a tentative target of ensuring at least a crore downloads within a few days, the Railways has asked all its 13 lakh employees and their family members to install the government’s official COVID-19 tracking mobile app Aarogya Setu. The move is an attempt to give a big push to develop a database of robust numbers and add to the intended usefulness of the tech.
The Railway Board is learnt to have said that within about 24 hours, all its employees and their family members should get the app installed. The progress of numbers will be recorded every day on the official internal dashboard monitored at the highest level in the ministry.
Instructions have been communicated to also get about 13 lakh retired railway personnel and their family members to download the app, voluntarily. Taking into account serving as well as retired employees and their family members, the app should see over 1 crore downloads in a few days, as per rough calculations by officials.
Aarogya Setu seeks to enable people to assess by themselves their risk of getting infected by coronavirus. It uses the phone’s tech to notify the user if another high-risk or COVID-19 positive person is nearby. Available in 11 languages, it has already been downloaded by over 1 crore users on the Android platform.
“It will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting-edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence,” a message from Chairman Railway Board Vinod Yadav to railway officers said.
“…the app detects other devices with ‘Aarogya Setu’ installed that come in the proximity of that phone. The app can then calculate the risk of infection based on sophisticated parameters if any of these contacts has tested positive,” the message added.